To improve a person’s mind (in the sense of making him or her more capable of meeting his or her own and others’ needs in a sustainable way) psychotherapy conducted by a professional psychotherapist, or self-therapy, may be useful. However, the latter requires skills and knowledge that few people possess.
There are various types and schools of psychotherapy, and it is difficult to determine which are most effective. Indeed, it seems that for each type of personality and mental distress there is a more suitable type of psychotherapy. On the other hand, scientific research has shown that the success of psychotherapy depends more on the quality of the relationship that is established between client and therapist than on the psychotherapeutic technique used, that is, it depends mainly on the personality and skills of the therapist.
My experiences as a psychotherapeutic client (with therapists of different schools) and my research on the workings of the mind (the results of which are described in the present book) have led me to devise and successfully experiment on myself with a therapeutic technique to which I have given the name Synoptic Training, which I believe can be used as an adjunct to psychotherapies (and self-treatments) of any kind.
Synoptic Training is a method based on the synoptic perception of words, phrases or other graphic or auditory material capable of evoking contents of the subject’s psyche of particular relevance to his or her distress. Such material should be collected and recorded (on paper or by means of a computer) in the course of the psychotherapeutic process, as emotionally relevant facts or ideas emerge.
The adjective synoptic means, in this context, that the visualization or listening to the collected material should take place simultaneously, that is, by arranging the emotion-evoking objects in combinations (i.e., “configurations”), capable of arousing unwanted emotions that can be linked with the psychic distress complained of by the subject.
The therapeutic effect of this technique consists in the induction of connections between psychic entities otherwise isolated from each other due to cognitive or emotional conflicts or incompatibilities.
In fact, whenever we perceive an “object,” it is “recognized” by our mind, i.e., evoked in thought and/or in the feeling sphere along with related cognitive, emotional and motivational associations. When two or more objects are perceived simultaneously, several psychic entities are evoked, i.e., “come to mind” simultaneously, suggesting a possible logical connection between them. Such linkage could result in emotional responses (pleasant or unpleasant) that do not occur when the same mental entities are evoked separately.
Finding out that the connection (which occurred by chance) between two particular mental entities causes undesirable emotional responses can be an excellent clue to highlight mental connections that are worth changing as they are not “healthy.”
On the other hand, the unwanted emotional response to a certain association of ideas may regress to a neutral response, by repetition of perception, over the course of days.
Synoptic Training makes use of paper-based graphic tools such as forms, questionnaires, mind maps and, optionally, computer applications. It can be practiced with or without the help of a psychotherapist; however, independent use requires skills of abstraction, analysis, synthesis, self-control and psychological knowledge that the subject may not possess to a sufficient degree.
Synoptic Training can be integrated with any type of psychotherapy from any school in order to make the psychotherapeutic process more effective.
Synoptic Training is intended both for psychotherapeutic patients and for people who, although they do not have any particular mental problems or discomforts, wish to improve their mental well-being, wisdom, creativity and/or productivity, cope better and more courageously with life’s difficulties, know their needs better and meet them more effectively.
Synoptic Training includes the following three processes:
- ANALYSIS: It consists of making a written inventory of the subject’s psychic contents with which are associated sufferings, dissatisfactions, unjustified inhibitions and fears, undesirable behaviors and emotions, as well as inclinations, desires, aspirations and sources of well-being of particular importance. For this purpose, it is recommended that the subject use a number of tools described in the Tools section, and in particular theInterconnector. The material should be collected in a random and unstructured manner, i.e., it should not be organized or ordered, and there is no requirement that there be logical or coherent relationships among the various “evocators.”
- AFFRACTION: It consists of repeatedly viewing or listening to the collected material in such a way as to stimulate unwanted or unwarranted emotional, cognitive and motivational responses, until the responses themselves subside to the point where one can reflect on them calmly. It is important to observe “together,” that is, in synoptic frameworks, the collected evokers.
- REORGANIZATION: It consists of organizing the collected evokers by grouping them into categories such as the following: my needs, my fears, my feelings, values, goals, plans, preferences, abilities, inabilities, superiority, inferiority, problems, strengths, weaknesses, etc., and using the material thus organized, for further coping exercises until a satisfactory attenuation of the unwanted emotional responses.
To facilitate these processes, I recommend using the mindOrganizer computer application, developed by me, with which the user can create and display in various modes, including animated and speech synthesized, an unlimited number of pages, using an Internet navigator (browser).
The above three processes can take place either in series (i.e., one after the other) or in parallel (i.e., simultaneously and recursively). For none of them is a definite conclusion expected as they all require modifications of the collected material, reflecting the evolving personality and psychic structure of the subject.
Next chapter: Self-governance.